Kenyan icon Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathon runner of all time, bound for Sydney
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The greatest marathon runner of all time, Kenyan icon Eliud Kipchoge, is set to grace the streets of Sydney.
Among the tens of thousands set to lace up for the Sydney Marathon in its inaugural year as a world major is Kipchoge — a former world record holder in the 42.195-kilometre event and a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the marathon.
He is also the only human who's run a marathon in less than two hours, which he did in unofficial conditions in Vienna in 2019.
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Kipchoge has conquered four of the seven majors — Berlin five times, London four times, Tokyo once and Chicago once — and will be aiming to reign Down Under when he glides across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 31.
The Sydney Marathon announced the prized signing of the 40-year-old on Friday morning, some four months after the event earned major status to join the elite company of Berlin, London, Tokyo, Chicago, New York and Boston.
Organisers are expecting a record-breaking 35,000 participants to be on the start line, up from last year's 25,000, and are hoping 300,000 spectators will line the course in support, up from an estimated 150,000 in 2024.
Eliud Kipchoge winning the 2022 Berlin Marathon in 2:01:09 to set a new world record. Getty
Asked what he was looking forward to about his trip to Sydney, Kipchoge gave a priceless answer.
"I want to go around Sydney to see the iconic bridges, to visit and, you know, talk with the people, visit the kangaroos, and watch and see the famous and special animal that is the kangaroo in Australia," Kipchoge laughed with a beaming grin, speaking to media on a video call from Kenya.
"That's what is on my mind ... That's an iconic animal as far as Australia is concerned."
Winning races and setting records is important to Kipchoge, but so is his mission to "make this world a running world", as the Nike-sponsored superstar has proclaimed repeatedly in the twilight years of his career.
Runners nearing the Opera House finish line of the Sydney Marathon. Getty
"Running in Australia is a big opportunity for me," he said.
"Australia is a continent, I treat it as a continent. I've never stepped there. I've been selling my ideas in Africa, in Europe, in America, in South America, in Asia, but I have never stepped in Australia. So it will be a huge, huge opportunity for me to sell my idea of making this world a running one.
"A running nation is a beautiful nation and a healthy nation and a powerful and developed nation.
"Above all, my mantra, 'no human is limited', is [about saying], 'Hey, you are not limited at all'. Let us come together, run together, and make Australia a running nation.
"It will be a fruitful day [in Sydney], and actually, that's adding another souvenir to my career."
Eliud Kipchoge charging to the finish line in his sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna in 2019. NN Running Team
Kipchoge's "no human is limited" mantra was at the forefront of his successful bid to become the first human to run a marathon in less than two hours.
He clocked 1:59:40 in Vienna but the run wasn't recognised by World Athletics because it was aided by illegal assistance, such as a rotating cast of pacemakers and laser lights beaming from a car ahead.
Even still, he owns three of the 10 fastest official marathon times ever run: a 2:01:09, a 2:01:39 and a 2:02:37.
Kipchoge was 15 at the time of the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Kipchoge captures marathon gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Getty
He made his Olympic debut in Athens four years later, collecting bronze in the 5000 metres.
He won marathon gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 to become just the third man to have won two Olympic gold medals in the marathon, joining Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila (1960, 1964) and East Germany's Waldemar Cierpinski (1976, 1980).
In pursuit of history in Paris last year, the GOAT withdrew 31 kilometres into the marathon, battling back pain.
"Like a boxer, I have been knocked down," he said in France.
Kipchoge successfully defends his Olympic marathon gold at Tokyo 2020. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima
He hasn't raced since the Paris Games but will contest the London Marathon next month, before sharpening his focus on Sydney.
"The course and the city is really beautiful," he said, picturing a course that starts in North Sydney, crosses the Harbour Bridge and eventually winds up at the Opera House.
Wayne Larden, the boss of the Sydney Marathon, first began chasing Kipchoge's signature over the 2022-23 summer.
"Part of the dialogue we had with them [the Kipchoge camp] was around the fact that he's raced in majors in North America, Europe and Tokyo," Larden told Wide World of Sports.
Kipchoge winning the 2019 London Marathon. Getty
"He's never raced here, and therefore, we put it to him that he would have a much bigger impact on community if he ran Sydney in our first year as a major, and that was important to him. So that's how we approached it, and luckily enough, we managed to sign him."
The Australian running community will spend the next five months waiting feverishly for the arrival of Kipchoge on these shores.
In the meantime, the Kenyan legend will eagerly await a shot at winning the newest major, and meeting the "famous and special" animal that is the kangaroo.
